Monster Hunter World: Sword and Shield Builds For Endgame

The Sword and Shield is a fast and versatile weapon type in Monster Hunter World that's especially strong when used in elemental or status effect builds. It may start out feeling weak at first, but once you get the right armor skills online, the SNS can slice through everything like butter.

Master rank Rathalos armor in Monster Hunter World

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By Marc Santos

There are a ton of possible build options for the Sword and Shield in Monster Hunter World, and it's hard to go wrong with the plethora of possibilities open to this weapon type. The following is an endgame generalist build that focuses on increasing comfort without giving up too much damage.

MHW Fatalis Critical Sword and Shield Build

Sword and Shield build with the Fatalis set in Monster Hunter World — Monster Hunter World Fatalis Sword and Shield build

Gear	Recommended Decoration
Soulfire Barb "Blaze"	Attack 1
Dragonhead Beta+	Challenger/Vitality 4 Tenderizer/Vitality 4 (2x)
Dragonhide Beta+	Gobbler/Attack 4 Grinder/Expert 4 FortitudeAttack 4
Dragonclaws Beta+	Critical Jewel 2 Challenger/Vitality 4 Satiated/Evasion 4
Dragonbarbs Beta+	Sheath/Handicraft 4 Sheath/Evasion 4 Challenger/Medicine 4
Rimeguard Greaves+	Blast Jewel 4 Attack 1
Master's Charm IV	--

This build is reserved for the absolute endgame of Monster Hunter World. It uses four pieces of the coveted Fatalis set that's popular for its extremely high building flexibility and useful set bonuses. You can bring this setup anywhere (except Alatreon and Blast-resistant monsters) and see excellent results thanks to its non-reliance on Elemental damage.

The decoration setup here is not set in stone. Due to the randomness of decoration drops, it'll be hard to get the specific decorations used in this build above. However, use this list as a guide for picking which decorations you want to use. For reference's sake, here's a summary of all the skills in this build:

Critical Eye 7
Weakness Exploit 3
Stun Resistance 3
Attack Boost 4
Health Boost 3
Agitator 3
Evade Window 3
Recovery Up 3
Blast Attack 2
Critical Draw 2
Quick Sheath 2
Critical Boost 1
Handicraft 1
Fortify 1
Free Meal 1
Speed Eating 1
Speed Sharpening 1

These skills aren't the most ideal when it comes to DPS, but they offer high comfort via increased iframes, faster healing item consumption, maximum stun resistance, and weapon flexibility, which means this armor set can be used in almost every weapon setup with only minor tweaks. A full-blown DPS setup would include max points in Critical Boost and Agitator.

Progression Builds

The Velkhana armor set in Monster Hunter World — Monster Hunter World Velkhana armor set

If you haven't beaten Fatalis yet, you can use either the Velkhana or Silver Sol armor sets with an Elemental Sword and Shield instead. Both armor sets greatly increase your elemental damage (with the Velkhana set focusing on Ice), boosting your DPS against monsters with the correct weaknesses.

You'll want either two pieces of Velkhana's Rimeguard armor for the Critical Element set bonus or four pieces of Silver Sol for True Critical Element. These skills significantly increase the elemental damage dealt by critical hits, making it generally effective against all monsters. Pair these armor sets with a high-Affinity weapon and maxed-out Critical Eye to get as much critical hit chance as possible. Tenderize monster parts regularly to get even more of a critical hit chance via Tenderizer jewels.

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